


baby steps

by owlsshadows



Series: faster than a snail | kenhina week 2019 [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Babysitting, Fluff, Gaming, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 06:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19042699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlsshadows/pseuds/owlsshadows
Summary: If one were to ask, Kenma would admit that Sawamura Daichi is not one of his favorite people. Sawamura Daichi enables Kuro way too much.In which Kuroo teases Kenma, while Hinata manages to surprise him.Written for KenHina Week 2019, Day 6: family / art / petsReading the series in order is advised.





	baby steps

**Author's Note:**

> Two snippets in one, because I really wanted to include a scene with Kuroo and a scene with babysitting and... uhh. This turned out very fluffy.
> 
> I would like to thank Nana for the beta, million and one thanks!!!

Kuro has been irritating lately, shit-eating grin permanent on his face.

“What?” Kenma barks, looking up from the game. “I can’t concentrate like this.”

“Well,” Kuro drawls, stretching on the sofa like a very, very long cat. He almost drops his controller in the bowl of chips in front of Kenma. “You know,” he starts, pauses, adjusts his position. He cuts down a zombie marching towards him on the TV screen, and continues. “Sa’amura and I had our anniversary last week and it made me wonder -  How long have you been together now? Two years? Three?”

“Hn,” Kenma says. His avatar flying dropkicks into the side of a giant zombie, tearing it in half.

“Nice moves.”

“Hn,” Kenma hums along, one part too focused on the game, and the other part unwilling to let Kuro have his fun with him.

Kuro realized Kenma’s crush on Shouyou early on back in high school. Knowing Kenma, Kuro didn’t push much, but his occasional comments were always spot on.

For a while, Kenma could silence him by throwing the ball back at him. And for years and years it worked, for Kuro was shy and awkward when it came to his longtime crush, Sawamura Daichi. But ever since last Christmas, when - thanks to some miracle - Sawamura Daichi asked Kuro out, Kuro has been unstoppable.

“You know, moving in together has its perks,” Kuro casually threw his free hand into the bowl and grabbed a fistful of chips.

“Hn,” Kenma agrees, maneuvering his avatar through a narrow corridor.

He has been dating Shouyou longer. Kuro had just jumped headfirst into his relationship with Sawamura Daichi, and Sawamura Daichi was bold enough to sweep Kuro off his feet with his smooth charm, and make Kuro move in with him after two months of dating.

If one were to ask, Kenma would admit that Sawamura Daichi is not one of his favorite people. Sawamura Daichi enables Kuro way too much.

“Aren’t you slow as a snail? Don’t you want to move in with the shrimp?” Kuro asks now with a full mouth, potato crisps dropping all over the place.

Kenma shrugs, ruffling his hair to ensure that whatever fell from Kuroo’s barbarian attitude will not stay atop his head.

_ Of course _ , Kenma wants to. But moving together has never been a question of willingness. For the most part of their relationship, it has been Shouyou staying over at Kenma’s place; but it is small, messy and run down, and Kenma’s stuff is already overflowing from the shelves onto the floor. It would be too small for the two of them.

On the other hand, Shouyou’s apartment is spacious, bright and cozy, but far from everything in Kenma’s life: his workplace, his favorite game store, Kuro and Tora. 

It has never been about whether he wants to move in together with Shouyou, but rather about how much he can move out of his comfort zone, and conversely, how much discomfort he can force on to Shouyou.

If it was possible, he would somehow enlarge his own flat. Add a few rooms, one for Shouyou to work out in, one for doing his own programming work. He would add a normal sized, fully equipped kitchen instead of the small corner he has in his flat. He would even add a guest room, for if Natsu comes down to visit from Miyagi.

Kenma has been thinking about it all, racking his brain relentlessly for a much longer time than it took for Sawamura Daichi to scoop Kuro up in his arms and carry him over to his apartment. Though, with the two them already being neighbors, it was really not that complicated.

Kenma has many things to say, but nothing that would make Kuro shut up, this much he knows without a doubt – and Sawamura Daichi earns another bad point, not that he really deserves it. Kenma has so many things to say, but he has neither patience nor willingness to let Kuro call him a coward. Or a slob.

“Don’t call Shouyou a shrimp,” Kenma says instead, twisting a button on the controller to behead a surprisingly menacing looking zombie.

 

*

 

Tora’s daughter has shiny brown eyes, one tooth and a wild mop of black hair on top of her head. She reminds Kenma of a certain someone, who has been pestering Kenma with irritating questions lately.

“She looks like Kuro,” Kenma comments, eyeing the baby from a safe distance.

“Oy!” Tora raises his voice, but he’s quickly tuned out by Shouyou’s brilliant laughter.

“Don’t say that, Kenma,” he says, lifting the baby up higher. “After all, babies can’t have mohawks.”

This makes even Kenma laugh, although his expression still looks constipated and he balances on the far end of the sofa.

“Are you sure you will be alright looking after her?” Tora squints at his high school friend.

Kenma shrugs.

“You deserve a rest, man,” he motions vaguely.

“Rest assured, senpai, we will be doing an excellent job,” Shouyou chimes in, accompanied by the gurgling laughter of the baby.

“She even sounds like Kuro,” Kenma says. “Are you sure she’s yours, Tora?”

“Rude,” Tora grabs one of the decorative pillows in reply and smacks it in Kenma’s general direction. He misses a bit, the pillow smashing against the wall behind Kenma’s ear and flopping to the floor with a flat thud.

“Don’t let him rile you up, Taketora-senpai,” Shouyou says.

“Don’t worry, we have always been fighting,” Tora replies, taking his daughter back while laughing. “Kenma and I have  _ history _ .”

“What history?” Shouyou perks up, curious.

Tora puts the baby in the crib before he turns to Shouyou with the wickedest of his smirks. “Once Kenma tried to beat me up.”

“No!” Shouyou hollers, unbelieving.

“I didn’t,” Kenma counters. “Though I wanted to.”

“See. When you grabbed my shirt and shouted in my face I was pretty sure you would punch me.”

“You would have deserved it,” Kenma responds. “You wouldn’t stop bugging me about willpower and such.”

“You looked so weak,” Tora argues, “I was just worried about you.”

“You wanted to sell me on the shounen protagonist ideology.”

“I can see why that didn’t work out,” Shouyou smiles, reaching out to hold Kenma’s hand. “This one is not a fan of big words and loud actions.”

“No, he is an absolute evil mastermind type,” Tora grins.

“Tora, shouldn’t you get going soon?” Kenma asks then, barely concealing his irritation.

“Right,” Tora says quickly, checking his phone. “You remember where things are?”

“Clear as day!” Shouyou smiles.

“I took notes,” Kenma adds, with much less enthusiasm. He is a little wary of children. The only children he knew growing up were his age, and no one has ever trusted him with the supervision of a child before, let alone a baby who can’t even speak yet, but crawls fast as lightning. Kenma feels inadequate and unprepared for the task – hence, when Tora had made his request, Kenma immediately downloaded a babysitter simulator to his phone – and made Shouyou swear that he will keep it a secret. Tora doesn’t need to know how little confidence Kenma has in the task at hand.

“Great,” Tora says, and he salutes as he walks to the door. “Take care, and protect my princess at all costs.”

“Yessir!” Shouyou plays along.

“If you have any questions or problems, call immediately,” Tora says then, and he looks almost unwilling to leave, stalling in the door frame with worry on his face.

“No need, we will manage,” Kenma says smoothly and with way more confidence than he actually feels, walking up to his friend and shooing him out of the room.

For one, he is glad that Tora and his wife are finally managing to escape the house for a few hours to spend a romantic evening together on their wedding anniversary – but being left alone with a baby feels suddenly heavy the second the little girl starts to whine.

“I got this,” Shouyou says before Kenma can move, and he watches in awe his boyfriend’s expertise and finesse lifting the baby and lulling her in mere seconds. If it was not immediately obvious from the moment they had arrived, now it becomes painfully obvious to Kenma just how good Shouyou is with kids.

_ He suits this. _

The thought sneaks on Kenma with cold, slimy fingers curling over and digging into his shoulder, and he shudders. The concern that has been constantly floating on the edges of his consciousness comes in strong, insecurity filling his heart with a murky, cold feeling.

Shouyou is not suited for the bachelor life, living all alone in his spacious apartment, where he is not even allowed to keep a cat. Shouyou needs life bustling around him. He seems energized simply by holding the baby.

Kenma sighs, flipping through his notifications to calm his heart. He wants to move in together, to give Shouyou a family. He has been considering it for a while, and finally he found his resolve.

_ Even if the morning commute to work will be dreadful. _

“Here,” Shouyou’s voice drags Kenma out of his thoughts, and the baby floats into his field of vision, a crooked, toothless smile spread across her chubby face. “She has been looking at you for a while. It seems she likes you.”

The baby, as if in agreement, reaches out and smacks Kenma across the face with an affectionate gurgle.

“See?” Shouyou laughs. “She just caressed you.” 

His face shines bright like the sun, and Kenma can’t help but crack a small, reserved smile in return.

“She has terrible taste,” he says.

“I disagree,” Shouyou leans down, planting a peck over the reddening spot across Kenma’s cheek. “She recognises the best.”

“Come on now,” Kenma shrugs. “You’re biased.”

“Am I?” Shouyou asks as he straightens back up, shaking the baby to entertain her.

“You are.”

“Hm,” Shouyou pulls his mouth to the side, deep in thought, and if Kenma stood up too, he could reach to smoothen the line that sits between Shouyou’s brows. He feels tempted to do so – but it would also mean coming in close contact with the baby and Kenma has yet to prepare his heart for that. The next moment Shouyou’s features smooth out in a smile too wonderful to be real. “Undeniably, I might be biased. But I think I’m not wrong, either,” he states. “You really are the best of the best people I’ve ever met.”

“You’re exaggerating. Or you haven’t meet many good people,” Kenma says, laughter caught between his teeth.

“I’m not exaggerating,” Shouyou says, and he does the thing when his entire aura changes.

When Kenma had first seen it, the swift change in Shouyou’s presence thrilled him. His eyes - strained on his counterpart, be it an opponent, rival, friend or enemy - had that adamant determination that made others liken him to a monster. Kenma has always found it as something captivating. He thought of Shouyou as formidable rather than intimidating. If anything, the intense face Shouyou made sometimes reminded Kenma of a last boss of a video game and drawn him to him.

What Kenma finds curious still, is the rapid fluttering of his heart as a reaction to Shouyou’s sudden change. Kenma holds his breath, waiting. Even the baby stills in Shouyou’s hands, large brown eyes gazing at him in awe.

“It’s not an exaggeration,” Shouyou repeats, voice sharp like shards of ice in the winter chill. “You are the best person I have ever met and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

And like that, Shouyou beams a smile at him, warm as the sun.

And like that, Kenma melts, molding into the couch shapeless, powerless, face burning hot.

“The way you can just  _ say  _ those things,” he murmurs.

“I’m not kidding,” Shouyou leans in, and Kenma can see his own reflection in Shouyou’s big, round eyes. “I’ve been searching for apartments for a while. Your neighbourhood is pretty packed, it’s hard to find something big enough for the two of us, but I think I have at least two candidates which could be interesting… if you would like to check them out with me, that is.”

“Are you… asking me to move in together?” Kenma asks, baffled.

“I am!” Shouyou smiles.

Kenma leans back, not even registering when Shouyou hands the baby over to him. He has a moving, squirming human being in his hands, too small to talk or walk, and she gurgles as Kenma attempts to hold her safely, patting his chest as she basically crawls him.

“What do you say?” Shouyou asks, suddenly sitting beside Kenma.

“You know,” the man says, staring at the girl in his lap, “You didn’t need to go out of your way to find a place near me. I wouldn’t have minded the morning commute.”

“You know you would,” Shouyou leans in, nuzzling his hair. “And I really don’t mind moving closer to your place. I’m basically a regular in all the neighbourhood ramen shops.”

“I see,” Kenma says, turning his head to lean against Shouyou.

“So? What do you say?” the redhead asks, running his fingers through Kenma’s long black hair.

Tora’s daughter falls asleep in his lap.

Kenma glances over to his side. Too afraid to move and awaken the baby, he reaches out with his hand, hooking his pinky in the hem of Shouyou’s shirt.

“Please move in with me?” he whispers.

“Likewise,” Shouyou smiles back.


End file.
